The prefrontal cortex makes up almost a third of the human brain, and it expanded dramatically during primate evolution. The Neurobiology of the Prefrontal Cortex presents a new theory about its fundamental function. In this important new book, the authors argue that primate-specific parts of the prefrontal cortex evolved to reduce errors in foraging choices, so that our ancestors could overcome periodic food shortages. This evolutionary development laid the foundation for working out problems in our imagination, which resulted in the origin of insights that allow humans to avoid errors...

Brain imaging has revolutionised the field of Psychology - once more concerned with IQ tests, reaction times and questionnaires. Most Psychology departments now have access to an MRI scanner - some have even renamed themselves as departments of cognitive neuroscience. Yet brain imaging can be a minefield, whichever discipline you approach it from. If you are a psychologist, you will have been taught how to do behavioural experiments, but may know little neuroanatomy or neurophysiology. If you are a neurologist or psychiatrist, then you may know the neuroanatomy and neurophysiology, but not...

In the late 1960s and early 1970s David Marr produced three astonishing papers in which he gave a detailed account of how the fine structure and known cell types of the cerebellum, hippocampus and neocortex perform the functions that they do. Marr went on to become one of the main founders of Computational Neuroscience. In his classic work 'Vision' he distinguished between the computational, algorithmic, and implementational levels, and the three early theories concerned implementation. However, they were produced when Neuroscience was in its infancy.
Now that so much more is known, it is...